It is clear from history that the Bible and the Christian faith were foundational in our educational and judicial system.

Educational System

Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first: Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the scriptures: "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him (Proverbs 2:3)." For over 100 years, more than 50% of all Harvard graduates were pastors!

Judicial System

Prayer of the Supreme Court: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee. We beg Thy blessings upon us and our parents and our teachers and our country. Amen."

Changes

• 1947: The Supreme Court banished their prayer.


• 1963: The Supreme Court ruled that Bible reading was outlawed as unconstitutional in the public school system. The court offered this justification: "If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could and have been psychologically harmful to children."


• 1965" The Courts denied as unconstitutional the rights of a student in the public school cafeteria to bow his head and pray audibly for his food.


• 1980: Stone vs. Graham outlawed the Ten Commandments in our public schools. The Supreme Court said if school children "read them, meditated upon them, and perhaps venerated and observed them, this is not a permissible objective."

Where does it end? At what price is our government departing from this religious heritage?